I’ve been thinking about moving on from my pop-out funboard (ugh) to a “real” longboard and was intruiged by Dave Parmeter’s description of the longboard gun.
9’0" long
14.5" nose / 21" wide / 12.5" tail
2.75 thick with 2x1 fin setup
He refers to the Stewart LB gun, Rusty model but I can’t see to locate these as current models.
Anyone out there building or riding a model like this? I’d love any feedback on the shape. I’m on the East Coast and like the concept of a single board that can handle a wide variety of conditions.
Thanks for the reply. Parmeter suggests a “performance envelope” of 4-12 feet but from the description it sounds more like a bit-wave shape for overhead conditions.
The upper end is probably more like 15-16 (triple head) but he might not want to scare people that they’re buying a gun.
You’ll get your board out 4 times more often if it’s ‘performance envelope’ is 1’-8’. FWIW.
Go ahead and step up to a 9’6" 2+1. Not too much rocker like a ‘performance longboard’, not too wide in the nose & tail or too flat in the nose like a dedicated noserider. Something that weighs around 17-18 lb will have enough glass to last and will carry through flat spots and won’t be affected by chop. But will still be light enough to accelerate when paddling and to kick around when a ramp shows up in front of you. Some shapers have more of a pulled-in nose than others, and still provide all the noseriding you’d want. Look for Jim Phillips, Velzy, Phil Edwards-style, Cooper Hornet style, the August Wingnut boards…lots more.
More like the yellow one (maybe without the big hips) less like the pink one (in the attachment). Both those boards are over 10’.
Edit: even though the yellow one is a 10’4" and 28 lb, it handles double-overhead point waves with more speed, hold, and predictability than almost anything else I’ve ever had…its a Velzy-label Phillips. Thanks Jim!
Funboards do a little of everything, but nothing super-well.
Tom Wegner Surfboards makes some very good points about long board gun design and fin design. Check his site out I think you can get some very good ideas from him.
A guy at my local break surfs a Bob Pearson special–9’6 longboard gun with a 12.5" pintail and a twin fin setup. Says it’s got great drive and hold, and I imagine it paddles better than a 2+1. He was looking a bit sheepish surfing that thing last week when the expected doh dribbled in at chest high…
I’m right now building a hollow balsa longboard gun. Board is 9’10" and is intented for Parlementia/Guethary, a big wave spot in France often defined as Europe’s Sunset.
Design inspired from : Dave Parmenter’s longboard gun and Brewer’s Bing Pipeliner
Building method inspired from : Paul Jensen and western red cedar strip planked kayaks
I was lucky enough to actually see that masterpiece of a work that Pierre made. And I can tell you it’s even better than what the shots suggest. Now, Pierre will tell you that it’s not that good, look over here, don’t you see that small bump, and so on… Don’t believe it! That one board is a beauty with hours of work from a master craftsman behind it… Joyeux Noël, Pierre, and keep up the good work. Merry Christmas to all of you out there!
Michael, when picking a longboard, I think the descriptions on the Harbour website are a very good resource to see the different kinds of shapes possible and their intended uses, i.e. what boards noseride better, what turn better, what for hollow waves, etc. The size charts provide complete nose, width, tail, and thickness dimensions for all common lengths, and clicking on the photos will show you a close up and fin setup too.
They have a few new models that aren’t up there yet though: the H3 which seems like the best all-around model at the moment and the 19 which I think is a more classic shape.
what are the width, nose, tail and thickness on that , please ?
One fin , or fins ?
Are you going to epoxy that ?
GREAT stuff …let us know how it goes please ?
ok… joyeux noel pour vous, monsieur Pierre !
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Before lamination, board weights about 8 kg. As far as final weight is concernerd, I havent decided yet how many layers of fiberglass I want to put on it. As a matter of fact, the unfinished board has been staying untouched in my garage for over a month due to lack of time …
I took many pictures of the building process. Once the board is finished, I’ll post many pictures and building details.
What you are looking for is a modern HP (high performance) longboard.
Usually 9’ -9’6 22.5" wide 2.75" thick… tail not more than 14.5". Box plus side bites is a plus…lots of rocker.
east cost juice…when it it gets good breaks more top to bottom. so you want a boarrd that can fit the hollow ness of those waves and can turn real quick.
Stewart, Harbour, McTavish…and others all make some good boards that fit the description above.
Michael - I have a good idea of what you are talking about because I ran into this crazy old coot in Nicaragua who was surfing a board that fits your description to a T. He called it his “Puerto Escondido Gun” b/c he bought it in Puerto when he drove through. He seemed to have no problems in the hollow waves that were hitting, some of which were easily DOH+. In fact, he said that it was one of the best all around boards that he owned and he definitely got his share of waves on it which says a lot because he was closing in on 60 years of age (he was also about 6’2", 155 lbs so that helped).
His board was a Pearson Arrow and it definitely was not something I would describe as a “modern longboard.” Instead it was much gunnier than the “modern longboards” I have seen. It was very similar to what Pointblanks calls their “round pin”: http://www.pointblanks.com/round_pin.html
Thanks everyone for the great information. Drew – I am in Southern NH, a lot of shore break but some good points too. The main challenge for me in learning will be the limited number of days with good waves – fall is good, winter even better but cold. I"ll be snowboarding now instead for a few months!
After reading all, seems like the concensus is a hp longboard around 9’6"; Point Blanks makes a nice-looking lb gun but it would be too much for most east coast conditions, as far as I can tell. Also looking into some slighly smaller models like the Point Blanks Munoz model. Anyone out there using one of them?
Howzit Michael, Those are also known as fun guns or gun logs and they get quite a bit of use at Hanalei Bay when it’s 6-8 ft but they are usually 9"0’ and under in length.Aloha,Kokua
here’s some pics of my 8’0" Geroge Ku C5 longboard gun.
A very nasty board that needs a very nasty wave big Lani’s, Sunset etc. Very fast but also very stiff needs alot of juice to loosen up and the c5’s make it go more horizontal than vertical. I’d go single fin pin for vertical.
Tom Allegre here at OB used to ride an 11’2" nose added 23" wide, small square tail.
Board before broke, a 10’8" pin tail around 23 wide.
He was a skinny 175lbs. at 6’2", but liked paddling and visibility over quick turning and easy pushtrus. He rode Mavericks for a while, but doesn’t any more.
Those were what I envisioned as “longboard guns”.
You didn’t want to paddle out directly behind him when a big set came by.
